Knowing the score

The score: it's in your genes; The Electric Company Theater Society; Directed by Kim Collier; Produced by David Hudgins; Waterfront Theatre, Granville Island, Vancouver; April 7-16, 2000

FIGURE While he was organizing the Human Genome 2000 conference this spring, Dr. Michael Hayden of Vancouver's Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics was looking for innovative entertainment that would help the public keep up with the galloping pace of genetic research. His solution was to commission Vancouver's Electric Company Theater Society to create a play: the result, The Score, was a dynamic fusion of drama, song and dance played against striking black-and-white sets and original music.

Figure.

Using multiple creative elements with a humorous flair, the play touches on a wide range of social and ethical concerns as it tells the story of Lynn Magnusson, a tyrannical geneticist running a small laboratory on the fast track to a groundbreaking discovery. A rival French laboratory is hot on her heels, and the competition is intensified by the prospect of a $3 million drug company investment with the potential to cut the time to discovery by five years. But time is also running out for Magnusson in the personal sphere. Her mother died of Huntington's disease, and Magnusson is unexpectedly forced to confront the possibility of carrying the gene herself when she discovers she is pregnant.

The public perspective on genetic research is conveyed through a mockup of Rex Murphy's CBC radio program, Cross Country Checkup. Concerned callers ask Magnusson about the implications of genomic knowledge on obtaining insurance and express fears about cloning and gene patenting. There are protests that "a sacred world has been breached" and that "the sanctity of human life has been devalued" by Magnusson's cutting-edge work. She responds that humans have always "tinkered" with their species through medical research and that genomic research will ultimately offer more benefits than drawbacks.

Back in the laboratory, tensions run high. Magnusson's team tries to outpace the French group; there is infighting over credit on scientific publications; and researchers fear the loss of their careers in the corporate culture of patenting. Ultimately, Magnusson's lab collaborates with the French group, which later pulls out and publishes their findings alone.

Magnusson, meanwhile, has tested herself for the Huntington's gene and discovers the results are positive. Her angst plays out in front of stage-sized slides of cells and gene micrographs, enhanced by musical and dance interpretations of her torment. In the end, her pregnancy and the discovery of her genetic destiny bring perspective to Magnusson's obsessive pursuit of mutations in her lab - which she leaves to her colleagues, still fiercely competing among themselves.